Myasthenia Gravis Support Group
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness that increases during periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Although myasthenia gravis may affect any voluntary muscle, muscles that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, and...
my first attempt to taper my steroid dose from 60mg to 40mg ended up in an overnight hospitalization and about a month of needing help on stairs, toilets, and chairs. my arms also suffered and I am still needeing assistance washing my hair and putting it up, brushing my teeth etc.
anyways I am attempting to cut my dose again mid September from 60mgto 50mg and im looking for natural adrenal boosters because I know your adrenals stop functioning when on pred. Any foods or vitamins that could kick start my adrenals when they cut my dose again? anything I can be doing to support adrenal balance?
I am also on cellcept which will hopefully help in the tapering process also. fingers crossed!
anyways I am attempting to cut my dose again mid September from 60mgto 50mg and im looking for natural adrenal boosters because I know your adrenals stop functioning when on pred. Any foods or vitamins that could kick start my adrenals when they cut my dose again? anything I can be doing to support adrenal balance?
I am also on cellcept which will hopefully help in the tapering process also. fingers crossed!
Corticosteroids are a class of chemicals that includes steroid hormones naturally produced in the adrenal cortex of vertebrates and analogues of these hormones that are synthesized in laboratories. Corticosteroids are involved in a wide range of physiological processes, including stress response, immune response, ...
The drugs we take do what they would be expected to do, but not all of those actions are desirable from our point of view. Prednisone is the prime example of a drug doing what it is supposed to do and causing us problems. We only use it because it is a powerful drug when we are having major problems. MG whether ocular or generalized is a major problem. The body is efficient and uses the same hormones and their breakdown products for many functions. Prednisone and its metabolites (breakdown products) are very important hormones. Because the body is efficient, it doesn't waste energy making what there is already enough (or too much) of unless it is sick and the feed back is broken. So when we give the body steroids, it stops making them. When we take those hormones away, it may take some time for the machinery to get back in gear and provide these important materials again. Adrenals shrink, not because they are attacked, but because they are not functioning in normal ways to make the hormones we are taking. Use it or lose it--we hope that we have only temporarily "lost it." b.